Select your show

Imagine a film festival where you could help choose the films and the the locations of the screenings. What would your personal lineup be? The people behind CineGoGo are exporting democracy to the film-festival model with the From Here to Awesome Film Festival. Films can be previewed and voted on via MySpace in advance, and, on the night of the screening, audience members can cast another, final vote (via text message) on which of the final three films will be shown. Screening is from 8-11 p.m. Friday at Mint Plaza (outdoors) or Mezzanine club (indoors), at Jessie and Mint streets, San Francisco. Free, with registration online. www.cinegogo.com.

- Reyhan Harmanci

Slow food rockers

Gnarls Barkley and Phil Lesh and Friends will headline the two-day Slow Food Rocks Festival from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 30, and 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Aug. 31 at the Great Meadow in Fort Mason.

Gnarls Barkley, the duo responsible for one of 2006's biggest hits, "Crazy," will headline Saturday's event, along with Ozomatli; the New Pornographers; Medeski, Martin and Wood; and Lebo (Dan Lebowitzof ALO).

Former Grateful Deadbassist Phil Lesh and his band, including vocalist Jackie Greene, will play Sunday, in addition to G Love and Special Sauce, the John Butler Trio and London Street.

The night's festivities include the costume-party dinner (in a nod to the forthcoming presidential election, the theme is "The New Party") and auction ($1,000 per ticket, $10,000 for a table) at the YBCA Novellus Theater (700 Howard St., San Francisco). Mos Def will perform for the dance party that follows ($150, $125 for YBCA members) at the YBCA Forum (701 Mission St.). For more information: www.ybca.org/artistsballsevenor (415) 978-2787.

ODC's open house

ODC Theater will open the doors on both dance product and process in a House Special at Project Artaud Theater next Wednesday. The one-night event features performances by various artists, followed by audience discussion.

The participants, who have been working in a summer residency program, include dance-drag-performance artist Monique Jenkinson/Fauxnique; the Asian American Dance Performances trio of Melody Takata, Charya Burt and Vishnu Tattva Das; and a French guest artist duo known as Rabbit Research. Curtain time is 8 p.m. at 450 Florida St., San Francisco. For tickets ($15), call (415) 863-9834 or go to www.odctheater.org. - Steven Winn

Magic vanishing acts

In what everyone involved attributes to mere coincidence, two key figures at the Magic Theatreare leaving the company just as new Artistic Director Loretta Grecoprepares to open her first season.

Mark Routhier has announced that he's stepping down as the Magic's director of artistic development, effective Sept. 1, to focus on his own developing freelance directing career. Routhier, who's helped run the company's new play development programs for six years, at first as literary manager, has staged shows with other local theaters and directed workshops last year with Lincoln Center. He'll be remounting his recent Golden Thread Productions world premiere of Yussef El Guindi's "Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes" with Los Angeles Theater Center this season and staging ConorMcPherson's "The Seafarer" for New Orleans' Southern Rep, as well as returning to the Magic to produce its annual Science on Stage event.

Routhier's announcement came hard on the heels of the news that Evren Odcikin, another local freelance director with a variety of companies, is leaving his post as the Magic's director of marketing and communications. Odcikin takes up his new job next week as public relations manager for American Conservatory Theater. The Magic is seeking replacements for both men, a company representative said.